Knowing What You Need
by TheMusicLives
Summary: Spotted: Chuck Bass finding out that green is the color of jealousy... and how very good it looks on him. Spoilers through episode 2.03; Chuck and Blair.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: This was bugging me... and will most likely end up a two-shot. I can't seem to get the second half to work, so I thought posting this and getting feedback would help. I'm **W A R N I N G** you now... this was inspired by spoilers. Not particularly spoilery if you know a few details, but if you don't, **PRESS THE BACK BUTTON NOW**. I'm not kidding. Not trying to be mean, but I don't want to hear how you didn't know that this included spoilers.

**SERIOUSLY... SEASON TWO SPOILERS ARE AHEAD.**

* * *

This is mostly conjecture and my plotbunny, but I wanted to tell you what exactly is a spoiler for the show before continuing.

**SPOILERS THAT ARE INCLUDED:  
-** The first few episodes of the season take place in the Hamptons.  
- Blair is being wooed by another guy.  
- I basically got inspired by this from seeing a picture of Blair being kissed on the cheek.  
- Blair does have blond highlights and was wearing ballet flats in the picture I saw.

Now, without further ado...

* * *

Knowing What You Need

(Part 1)

* * *

It's a beautiful afternoon in South Hampton; the sky is blue, the birds are singing, and the atmosphere inside the Bass family's summer house is so stifling that Chuck decided to actually go out and attempt to enjoy the fresh air. He didn't normally walk, but he'd found he could enjoy it on occasion if for nothing else than the solitude it offered for the thoughts in his head.

Having Blair staying in a room that was only a few doors down from his was really messing with his head. Sure, she avoided him like the plague, but he still knew she was there. He didn't have to actually see her in order to fantasize about running into her or going to her room and fixing this rift between them once and for all.

If only that was an option he could choose; there was that obstacle, one that couldn't be wished away, in the form of Blair's new _boyfriend_.

His walk was obviously doing nothing to clear his head.

Turning from one quaint little street lined with shops and onto another, he saw something that made him stop short against the corner of a building. Across the street was the subject of his thoughts and his reason for unrest; it seems he just _wasn't_ meant to escape her today.

Blair looked amazing as usual; from the tip of her designer ballet flats to the top of her hair, kissed with blonde highlights from the summer sun, she radiated beauty. Normally the sight of her would cause the undead flutters in his stomach to rise and dance, but today was different.

Standing next to Blair was her newest leading man, the life-size Ken Doll that had taken Chuck's place as a more proper match to her Hepburn-esque aspirations. Chuck had only met him once, but the guy oozed manners and propriety, parents loved him, and, right now, Blair was looking at him like he'd hung the moon.

Chuck watched in frozen horror as Blair's cheek was chastely kissed by her beau. When she giggled in response to the gesture, the butterflies that she'd told Chuck to murder months ago began to die one by one in the agony that he knew he deserved to feel. He'd done this, given up on the right to hold her and the chance to have her smile up at him like that. It was his fault that she'd gone looking for a substitution that matched her fairytale better than he ever did.

It didn't mean that it hurt any less to watch the pages turn and the story unfold.

He stood there, torturing himself, as the tall man _his_ Blair now smiled up at pressed another kiss to her cheek and walked into the store behind where she stood. The relief washing over her face at his departure caused a masochistic curiosity to rise in Chuck's chest at her odd reaction. Was she not as happy as she seemed?

As she pulled out a mirror to check her already perfect make-up, he moved before he could even make a decision to act. Suddenly, he was walking unnoticed down the street, past where she stood and doubling back. Grabbing her gently, he pushed her body against the wall just out of view of the shop windows, pinning her there.

Wide brown eyes filled with anger as they met his own and she attempted to shove him away while she spat, "What the hell do you think you're doing, Bass?!"

"I was about to ask you the same thing." He spoke softly in response, trying to calm her before he started in on her. "You're making a fool out of yourself, Blair. If you thought that you could make me believe you want to be with _him_, then you're insulting my intelligence. He obviously bores you."

Sighing in frustration, Blair held his gaze, "Running out of material, Chuck? 'That broken record was a hit last year,' and the _only_ fool around here is _you_." She began to struggle in his arms again, "He'll be back in a minute, so you _might_ want to let me go."

Instead of doing what she asked, he pressed into her further, his body against hers from hips to chest. "You used to beg me to touch you," he whispered throatily, his voice lowered for only her ears to hear, "Remember?"

The unconscious action of her tongue darting out to lick her lips answered his question for him, but her voice was strong when she replied, "That was before _you_ ruined everything, _remember?_ You threw me away when I gave you a chance." Quieting her tone, her eyes looked out past his shoulder before she asked, "Did you really expect me _not_ to move on, Chuck?"

"That's not moving on, Blair, that's _regressing_." Her eyes snapped back to his, but he could tell she wanted to look anywhere else. "You went back to what used to be _safe,_ to someone that you had no chance of being hurt by because you _don't care._ Not only that, but I would bet _everything_ I own against his ability to turn you on and make you sweat at the _thought_ of his hands on you. Prim and proper never could drive you wild, Waldorf, and it never will, so why bother wasting your time on someone who'll never be what you need?"

Blair rolled her eyes, "Since when are you an expert on what I need _outside_ of the bedroom, Chuck? You have no idea what_ you _want, so don't even pretend to know me." She sighed with defeat and turned her eyes to the ground, "It's impossible to know what you never took the time to learn."

"I _do_ know you, Blair," he ran his hands up her arms and shoulders before cupping the sides of her face. "I know that your heart is racing right now; that way you're biting your lip means you're trying to get it under control. You're so hot and bothered that I could take you up against this wall in broad daylight and you'd barely protest."

Placing his thumbs over her lips when she tried to speak, he continued, "For years you've lived on autopilot, doing only what was necessary to please everyone but yourself. You're insecure and delicate; your bitchiness is a cover for your desperation to stay on your figurative throne, one that I've helped you keep. You need me, whether or not you know it; you need to flaunt him in front of my face, to know that seeing you with him kills me."

He took a deep breath, knowing what he was going to do couldn't be taken back. "But if I know anything about you, it's that you're in desperate need… of this."

Leaning down the few centimeters between them, he removed his thumbs from her mouth and replaced them with his lips. Her lack of resistance surprised him, filling him with exhilaration. Kissing her like a man that had been wandering the desert for weeks without water, he lapped at her tongue, drinking in the taste of her answering moans, and simply savored the sensation of having _her_ all around him again_._

After kissing her for as long as he dared, he pulled away and let his breath fall on her neck. "Let me know when you figure out what you want," he whispered, "I think you know where I stand."

He walked away, leaving her there against the wall, and hid behind the corner he'd spotted her from earlier. Stopping for a moment to take her appearance in, he decided that his work was done here. From her slightly smudged lipstick to her mussed hair to her glazed eyes, she looked thoroughly kissed and confused.

Reaching up to wipe the color her lips had undoubtedly left on his own, he took a second to remember the feeling and another to wish he'd done that differently. He'd given too much away, said too many words, shown too much of his heart in trying to introduce her to hers, but there was no going back now.

After avoiding her since she'd arrived, he'd finally said his piece… and it brought him no comfort.

He was vulnerable; open and exposed to her claws for punishment. Now all he needed to do was wait to see what brand of consequences was coming to him.

* * *

It was three in the morning when Chuck's phone rang, waking him out of a dead sleep. He didn't even check the I.D. before answering with an incoherent, "Uh?"

"Where the hell do you get off?!" Blair's voice was loud and angry on the other end of the line, startling him out of his fog.

Shaking his sleep-addled head against the pillow, he cleared his throat, "I don't know if you're aware of the time, but you're going to have to give me a little more information if you expect an answer, Blair."

"Ugh!" She was actually grunting in frustration at him, "You know _very_ well what I'm talking about. I'm doing fine… moving on, forgetting about you and all the crap you've pulled… and _then_ you have to stick your nose where it _doesn't_ belong. I'm tired of it, Chuck. I _really_ am. I want you to _leave me alone_."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't _you_ just call _me?_" Rubbing his hand over his face he continued, "It _seems_ as if you haven't moved on as far as you'd like to think. Calling an ex in the middle of the night and waking them from a dead sleep just to yell at them doesn't exactly scream 'over you,' does it?" Neither does the fact that she'd _obviously_ been stewing over his actions all day, but he wasn't going to press his luck by mentioning that.

"You make me sick, Chuck. I've never…" Suddenly her voice went dead quiet and all he could hear was her breathing until she spoke up again, "Wait. You're in bed?"

Sighing, he spoke slowly, "Yes… that's where I sleep. In… my… bed."

"Don't patronize me."

"Well, it was kind of a dumb question, Blair," he replied.

"It's a Saturday night. Do you _seriously_ expect me to believe that you were asleep?"

"I don't see why that's so unbelievable," he was running his hand through his hair, trying to think of a reason why she was questioning something so trivial. "Again, did you _look_ at the time before you called?"

She sounded a little calmer when she replied, "Usually you're out collecting skanks to get diseases from at this time of night." Oh, and was that jealousy? Looks he wasn't the only one with that particular affliction.

Letting out a yawn, he concluded, "Seems like _you're_ the one who doesn't know _me_ anymore, Blair."

Pressing the 'End' button on his phone, he rolled to his back and stared up at where the ceiling would be if it wasn't so dark. Blair's audacity wasn't soothing and her curiosity _definitely_ didn't make him feel any better. Is that what she really thought of him? That it was so easy for him to ignore her and go on sleeping around like she wasn't here?

How was he supposed to get back to sleep now, with her voice invading his brain? Knowing that she was awake and thinking of him, even if it was in anger, was turning him on.

Dammit.

* * *

**A/N: **Everything besides the spoilers listed at the top is my idea. For example, I don't know that Blair is staying with the Basses. I also don't know if Chuck witnesses the cheek kiss. This is my first time writing with spoilers, so let me know what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Here is the conclusion to my spoiler plot-bunny. :D I hope you enjoy this. And, for those of you who don't know, I'm living in Denial Land when it comes to certain details about Chuck's Season Finale screw-ups. So, I've written this to coincide with my beliefs about what happened after the credits rolled. :D Don't hate me.

I'm **W A R N I N G** you now... this was inspired by spoilers. I actually added another to the list and moved it to the bottom AN because I needed to use the idea. Not particularly spoilery if you know a few details, but if you don't, **PRESS THE BACK BUTTON NOW**. I'm not kidding. Not trying to be mean, but I don't want to hear how you didn't know that this included spoilers.

**SERIOUSLY... SEASON TWO SPOILERS ARE AHEAD.**

Now, without further ado...

* * *

Knowing What You Need

Chapter 2

* * *

Blair was staring at her dark phone in utter disbelief; the jerk hung up on her! "How _dare_ he?!" Throwing the offending object down on her bed and watching as it bounced, it only took her a second to decide that yelling at him would be _so_ much more satisfying in person. If she'd known he was here, it's what she would've done in the first place.

Ripping her robe off the hook and pulling it on over her nightgown, she stomped down the hall and into his room. There was no way she was going to let him get away with cutting her off; he owed her way too much for what he'd put her though.

Opening the door and lighting the darkness inside his summer lair, she could easily make out his shape lying on the bed. He didn't stir when she entered, but that didn't stop her; she didn't see how it was possible for him to be asleep again so soon. He didn't deserve sleep, as far as she was concerned; if he was trying to ruin her chance to move on, she would ruin his attempts to sleep. It was only right.

She'd come to finish their argument, so after closing the door she declared, "_Tell me_ _why_ you aren't out smarming some slut out of her bikini." She walked over to the side of the bed that he was sleeping on and stared angrily down at his form with her hands on her hips, "And don't think I'm leaving until I get some answers."

"No more interrogation tonight, Blair." She heard him sigh, "You can yell at me in the morning."

She spoke, her tone hushed and furious, "You can't tell me when to yell at you, you cretin! After what you pulled this afternoon, I have every right to ask _whatever_ questions I want _and_ yell about the answers."

"Then why aren't you yelling?" He knew why and his snicker was proof; she didn't want to wake anyone else in the house. Yelling may be her purpose here, but she was going to try and maintain a decent volume for as long as she could without resorting to murder. Even then, she wasn't making promises _not_ to kill him.

Irked at him for trying to de-rail her by being clever, she slapped his shoulder, "You're avoiding the issue… Again."

"Just…" he sighed, "Give me a minute, okay?" She heard him take something from his bedside table and the lights came up to a dim glow; one that_ might_ be romantic any other time. Placing the remote back down, he slowly rose from his bed and stood to face her in all of his boxer-clad glory. "Now," he met her eyes, "Finish your ranting, so that I can get back to sleep."

"I'm not ranting," she poked him in the chest, hopefully showing him that his state of undress _wasn't_ affecting her; that was a detail he _did not_ need to know. "You hung up on me, Chuck. I just want to get my explanations so that I can _get on_ with my life."

He rolled his eyes, "What was I supposedly explaining when I _allegedly_ hung up?"

"You were about to tell me why you were _in bed before dawn_ and I'm…" Hands still on her hips, she raised her eyebrows in expectation and added, "Still waiting, Bass."

Running his hand though his unfortunately adorable bed-hair, he asked dejectedly, "Maybe I'd be more willing to answer if I knew why it was _so damn_ important, Blair."

"You _know _why." Spitting the answer in his face, she barely resisted the urge to slap him. Was he going to make her say it? How could she have _ever_ believed this twisted person _cared_ about her?

His voice was soft as he replied, "Pretend that I don't and remind me." She could feel her anger starting to dissipate when she saw how serious his demeanor was; he must have some secret he was keeping, something he was ashamed to admit. He wanted her to give him a reason to share it.

It was obvious now that he wasn't toying with her, but that didn't make it any easier to re-live the past. "It's _important_ because…" she looked to the ceiling to blink back the tears that she _couldn't_ let fall before meeting his gaze again, "Because if you didn't do it to sleep around, you _abandoning_ me on the helipad _doesn't_ make sense anymore. You breaking up with me… by _text message…_ isn't something that I can trivialize, if that's not the case." Breathing deeply she turned her gaze to the floor and continued, "Because if it wasn't you who screwed everything up, it must have been me; that's just the way it is."

Blair felt a hand on the left side of her face and a rebel tear slipped down her cheek at the repentantly tender touch. "The reason," he answered gently, "Has everything to do with you… just _not_ in the way you think." Using his thumb, he wiped the tear from its place next to her lips before he continued slowly, "It was brought to my attention that I couldn't be Chuck Bass _and_ be with you… so I decided to let go before someone got hurt."

A cynical smirk lifted the right corner of her mouth, "So, I _was_ right… sort of." But was it worth letting him see her cry to learn that? No; and it was never so unsatisfying to be proven right.

"Everything should've, mostly, worked out for me…" Dropping his hands to his sides, he scoffed, "Except that, no matter how hard I tried to be _Chuck Bass_… it didn't work."

Now she was confused; that didn't tell her anything and she _earned_ her answers. Raising an eyebrow, she asked, "It didn't work?"

Chuck rolled his eyes exaggeratedly and sighed in frustration. "No, _it_…" he turned his eyes down towards the floor and then back up to meet hers, "Didn't_ work._"

The realization of what he was trying _not_ to say made her jaw drop. "Oh. My. Gosh…_ you can't_…" she let her voice trail off and then started to giggle uncontrollably.

"This would be why I wouldn't tell you."

"_This_," She squealed happily, "Is called Karma!" The giddiness made her want to jump up and down; it was _so_ good to know he'd been thwarted. It almost made the pain she'd gone through worth it! "You broke my heart and I've _hated_ you all summer for it… and, in retaliation, Karma broke…" She flicked her eyes downward quickly then met his stormy gaze with a wide smile, "_Chuck. Bass_."

He looked livid and spoke through gritted teeth, "_But_, I've figured it out…" He grasped her hips quickly, pulled them flush with hers, and she could feel the addendum coming at her before he even began to speak; "It's not that it _never_ works… _it_ just doesn't work for anyone but _Blair Waldorf._" His gaze filled with regret and the hands holding her hips moved up her sides, grazed lightly along the sides her breasts, and completed the journey to cup her face. "It seems as if my anatomy prefers you to anyone else; _even after_ I'd lost you due to my foolish ego."

Sure the words weren't as poetic as she'd like but the sentiment was the same: he was sorry, even if he hadn't said it in so many words. His eyes could never lie to her and they held the heart that mattered behind any words.

The same seductive enchantment that had compelled her respond to his kiss in town earlier was pulling her heart towards him again, like a magnet to a steel building. She could give in to her heart; to forgive him would be so easy when he'd been so open, but there was one thing she needed to know first. Bringing her hands up to rest delicately on his chest, she whispered timidly, "There's been no one else?"

Chuck's eyes stayed on hers, steady and un-blinking as he replied soberly, "No… not since you."

Sliding her hands up from his chest and into his downy soft hair, she pressed her lips to his gently, tenderly reveling in the feel of his lips on hers. Earlier they'd kissed so feverishly; stolen kisses didn't leave time to savor sensations, so she took her time to caress his lips with her own as she waited for him to respond to her peace offering.

After a moment of slow burning kisses, just feeling out each other's mouths to refresh the dim memories, he pulled away and looked into her eyes with a smirk, "What about _Mr. Perfect?_"

"I guess he can collect his check and go," she smiled at him innocently, twirling her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck. "His mission's accomplished."

Putting his forehead to hers and heaving a sigh that sounded an awful lot like relief, he smiled, "Yeah, that's what I thought." They started to drift towards the bed and he asked, "So, you up for this?"

She pulled her robe down over her shoulders and let it fall to the floor, "Depends on what _this_ you're talking about." Reaching down, she pulled the hem of her nightgown over her head and threw it at him. "Because I'm so ready for _this_." Watching him gulp at her topless display, she giggled; it'd been _way_ too long.

He laughed, "No, I know you're ready for that." Pulling her close and reveling in her skin against his he asked seriously, "I mean, are you ready to really try this? I'm still Chuck Bass."

"Oh, I hope you are," her hands slid down his back and found the waist of his boxers, pushing them down. "I never needed you to be someone else, Chuck," she looked into his eyes, "I just need Chuck Bass without the womanizing and the jealous scheming." Running her hands back around him she smiled, "Although, I have to admit, green _does_ look good on you."

"I wasn't jealous…" her underwear dropped to join his on the floor, "You can't envy what's yours." He lowered his mouth to hers and she could feel his heart in the kiss, so she let the ownership comment slide. Letting him take him back them toward the bed, they fell into it and rediscovered each other.

It's basic human instinct to show the one you love how much you cherish them.

Especially when you finally admit to yourself that they're what you needed.

* * *

When Nate opened his best friend's door to pull him out of his misery, the one that Nate wasn't supposed to know anything about, and found that Chuck wasn't alone, his jaw dropped. He grabbed Serena's arm as she walked past him to show her what he saw and her jaw dropped as well.

Their stubborn best friends were covered in sheets and wrapped around each other. They looked as if World War III had finally been called on account of love in the middle of the night.

Everyone else had figured the cause out months ago.

Closing the door quietly, Nate and Serena grinned and laughed. There'd been tense silences and murderous looks since Blair arrived; Chuck had gone through scotch like water.

Everyone could start to actually enjoy what was left of summer, now that Chuck and Blair had called a truce. Nate just hoped they'd remember to lock the door next time. No matter how relieved he was that the battle was over, no one else needed to see that.

The Ex-Girlfriend and the Best Friend deserved their privacy.

And each other.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, I hope you enjoyed my little foray into the Season Two CB reconciliation. If you can let me know what you thought, I can let you know what I thought about what you thought. :D Oh, and I'll love you forever, if that's any incentive.

* * *

**SPOILERS THAT ARE INCLUDED:  
-** The first few episodes of the season take place in the Hamptons.  
- Blair is being wooed by another guy.  
- I basically got inspired by this from seeing a picture of Blair being kissed on the cheek.  
- Blair does have blond highlights and was wearing ballet flats in the picture I saw.  
- Used an idea from an episode side about Chuck being unable to "perform."

* * *


End file.
